On Christmas morning, we need to be prepared, so here's a little checklist:

1. Set the timer on the coffee pot before going to bed so there will be plenty of piping hot caffeine ready for the opening of gifts.

2. Grab a couple of giant garbage bags to collect all the wrapping paper when your children and pets begin tearing into the presents.

3. Avoid disappointment by having a bunch of batteries on hand in assorted sizes to insert into toys and electronics.

4. Have scissors, hedge clippers, screwdrivers, a chain saw, a sledgehammer, a jackhammer and a machete handy so you can cut into impossible-to-open packaging.

5. Keep a first-aid kit next to you at all times in case you have an accident trying to cut into some of that impossible-to-open packaging.

In addition to the joy of Christmas morning, most Americans will experience some degree of "wrap rage" during the holidays. For those unfamiliar with the term, I will give you the Wikipedia definition:

"Wrap rage, also called package rage, is the common name for heightened levels of anger and frustration resulting from the inability to open hard-to-remove packaging, particularly some heat sealed plastic blister packs and clamshells. Consumers suffer thousands of injuries per year, such as cut fingers and sprained wrists, from tools used to open packages and from the packaging itself ¿"

If you haven't had the pleasure of trying to open such an uncooperative beast, let me walk you through it. Let's imagine you have purchased a Barbie doll for you 6-year-old daughter or granddaughter. She rips open the wrapping paper on Christmas morning to find Barbie dressed in all of her holiday splendor, a beautiful doll-sized gown in Christmas red and white. The problem is, Barbie is entombed in cardboard and clear plastic and your little girl is losing her cool trying to break Barbie out of her hermetically sealed coffin.

So what's with all the overdone packaging? I know this is a post 9-11 world, but surely Barbie and other such dolls are not grave risks to national security. They might prompt a fashion alert, but certainly not a terror alert.

But your 6-year-old will just have to wait for her gift as you try to pry Barbie out of the box.

Meanwhile, it looks as if terrorists had already taken her captive. She may be smiling pleasantly in her shimmering holiday evening gown, but Barbie's not going anywhere. Her legs, arms and neck are bound by what appears to be those little plastic covered wires used to close up a loaf of Wonder Bread. What are those little plastic wires called anyway? Is there a name for them or are they just called "those little plastic wires used to close up the bread."

The little plastic bread wrapper wires are threaded around Barbie's neck, arms and legs and through some holes punched in the cardboard packaging. Barbie should be screaming for her Dream House, but she's a true stoic and lies flat on the cardboard until all the bread ties are removed and she is finally free.

Meanwhile, your 6-year-old has lost interest and the family has moved on to the next gift, an MP3 player encased in a plastic bubble. The packaging would baffle a NASA engineer and the plastic case is likely made of the same material that served as an impermeable heat shield on one of the space shuttle flights. You use a steak knife to cut into it and end up slitting your wrist on a jagged piece of plastic. Your blood soaks into the packaging, but at least you got that sucker open!

If any of this rings true for you, please know that you are not alone. There is a movement in this country to fight back against nutty packaging. Retail giants Wal-Mart and Amazon are both pushing manufacturers to get rid of those dangerous little plastic coffins encasing electronics and toys and the little wire twist ties strangling poor Barbie.

According to an article in Bloomberg last month, it is estimated that one third of all consumer trash dumped in landfills is packaging and we each contribute about 800 pounds of packaging waste per year to the trash stream. The problem is especially bad during the holiday season.

So get your swords sharpened and practice being patient. Santa Claus is coming to town with your favorite electronic gadget locked in a little plastic vault and Barbie, bound by twist ties appears ready for the guillotine.

Merry Christmas to all and keep the first-aid kit close by!

Mary Pat Rowland is the managing editor of Foster's. Her e-mail address is mprowland@fosters.com.